[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-adventuremice-at-bath-kids-lit-fest-2024":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"When you go to Bath, you expect to see a lot of Regency grandeur. Have a look at our event venue in the Assembly Rooms, you could easily imagine Jane Austen's characters gathered there for a ball. Did Elizabeth Bennett draw pictures of Pedro the mouse on her dance card? Perhaps?  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1349256_original-1fc00e7dc4.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_festphoto1.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_festphoto1.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 0.9em\">\u003Ci>Photo by Grace Lev for Bath Kids Lit Fest\u003C/i>\u003C/span>\\r\n\\r\nBut then you go up and up some small stairs for a quiet curry and realise, once again, you're in a Regency ball room and yes, Jane Austen \u003Ci>definitely\u003C/i> ate a curry here. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1349383_original-62137ac56f.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_pearlofindia.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_pearlofindia.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more under the cut!-->\\r\nBut what did Jane Austen read when she was kid? I can 100% guarantee that it was not \u003Ci>Adventuremice: The Ghostly Galleon\u003C/i> by Reeve & McIntyre, and that she did not needlepoint any firescreens inspired by it, depicting the Ghost of Captain Cheesebeard. Well, we would have needlepointed firescreens if we had a bit more time, but pencil drawings did suffice. Here are two fine examples from \u003Ca href=\"https://linktr.ee/bathkidslitfest\">Bath Children's Literature Festival\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1349633_original-76d4d7a95f.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_ghosts.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_ghosts.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIf you missed the event, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.adventuremice.com/books/ghostly-galleon\">you can learn how to draw the Ghost of Captain Cheesebeard in a video here\u003C/a>.) In fact, the chap on the right showed me a bunch of his Adventuremice drawings he'd made when he had a bit more time and they were ace! Here's his drawing of Bramble Isle:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1350060_original-b56b27daff.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_brambleisle1.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_brambleisle1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt's taken from this illustration in the book which, to be fair, was quite a challenge me, too! Making sense of that blackberry tangle while still keeping it autumnally wild. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1350321_original-25b36a346d.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_brambleisle2.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_brambleisle2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd the detail in this one boggles my mind. Way to go!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1350531_original-2f281f8437.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_kiddrawing2.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_kiddrawing2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIn total we did three Adventuremice school events: the two scheduled ones, and an extra one for a school that got the time wrong and we fortunately happened to be signing in a bookshop just down the road. They were amazing, because of the team running them but also because \u003Cb>Gill and John McLay who run the festival had decided that they would make sure \u003Cb>\u003Ci>every child\u003C/i> went home with an Adventuremice book\u003C/b>\u003C/b>. It was a real leap of faith for sponsorship on their part, with their \u003Ca href=\"https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/freebooksbath2024\">Share the Story\u003C/a> scheme, but makes so much sense in closing the reading loop: children come to an event, get inspired to read a book, \u003Ci>and then get to read that book\u003C/i>. Thank you, SO MUCH, John and Gill, for making that happen!! (\u003Ca href=\"https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/freebooksbath2024\">Please donate if you can\u003C/a>, to help them connect more children with books!)\\r\n\\r\nBesides Adventuremice events, John McLay and Philip did a Mortal Engines event at \u003Ca href=\"https://www.waterstones.com/bookshops/bath\">Waterstones Bath\u003C/a>, featuring Philip's brand-new \u003Ca href=\"https://philipreeveblog.blogspot.com/2024/09/thunder-city-return-to-traction-era.html\">\u003Ci>\u003Cb>Thunder City\u003C/b>\u003C/i>\u003C/a>.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1350678_original-9db0d7507d.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nThe room was packed out - his publicist Rachael Phillips and I were perched on stairs at the back.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1351072_original-3e5cee9ecd.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip2.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nQuite a lot of the people there, of greatly varying ages, were SUPER FANS, with in-depth questions that showed they knew the world of the traction cities incredibly well. They also asked questions about Philip's \u003Ca href=\"https://philipreeveblog.blogspot.com/2020/09/railhead-z.html\">Railhead\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://philipreeveblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Utterly%20Dark\">Utterly Dark\u003C/a> trilogies, and similiarities and differences between the books; I loved hearing those great stories resurfacing in conversation.  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1351358_original-d4ed211240.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip3.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_JohnMcLayPhilip3.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSome lovely faces in the author lounge: \u003Ca href=\"https://www.kenwilsonmax.com/\">Ken Wilson-Max\u003C/a>, our fabulous David Fickling Books publicist \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/frashutc/\">Fraser Hutchinson\u003C/a> who came all the way to Bath to support us (thank you, Fraser!!), \u003Ca href=\"https://www.onjaliqrauf.org/\">Onjali Raúf\u003C/a>, and \u003Ca href=\"http://meganwhalenturner.org/\">Megan Whalen Turner\u003C/a>, who was over from America and I got to meet for the first time. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1351850_original-5e4485ce69.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_greenroommontage.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_greenroommontage.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd here's \u003Ca href=\"https://afsteadman.com/\">AF Steadman\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/sarahcurriedyer/\">Sarah Currie Dyer\u003C/a> with the wonderful team that made everything possible. A HUGE thanks to \u003Ca href=\"https://www.bathliteraryagency.com/contact-1\">Gill McLay\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://www.bathliteraryagency.com/john-mclay\">John McLay\u003C/a> and everyone who made this wonderful festival happen! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1352032_original-3175ec1e09.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_team.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_team.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSince we were in town for the festival, we paid visits to two other fine bookshops: \u003Ca href=\"https://www.toppingbooks.co.uk/\">Toppings & Co\u003C/a>, where Caroline the bookseller set us up to do some signing...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1352387_original-a8d878d7de.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_Toppings.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_Toppings.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd \u003Ca href=\"https://mrbsemporium.com\">Mr B's Emporium\u003C/a>, where Nic and Lottie let us share the author signing corner with Rick Astley (who's slightly wooden in manner but obviously a big fan). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/1352577_original-1c0aed9627.jpg\" alt=\"BathKids24_MrBs.jpg\" title=\"BathKids24_MrBs.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ci>(LOL, you've just been rick-rolled.) \u003C/i>","2024-10-04T13:59:00.000Z","adventuremice-at-bath-kids-lit-fest-2024",[],"Adventuremice at Bath Kids Lit Fest 2024",1776628731988]